US dollar modestly recovers, but sentiment still tense; euro wobbles
The U.S. dollar advanced on Thursday after three days of losses, as the House of Representatives narrowly passed President Donald Trump's bill for huge tax and spending cuts, even as the euro stumbled after data painted a bleak economic picture for the euro zone.
Bitcoin , meanwhile, pushed to a new all-time high, partly as investors sought out alternatives to U.S. assets
But Trump's sweeping tax bill has been the market's focus and its passage has been met partly with relief and partly with caution. The bill is set to add to the country's ballooning debt pile. The market is now looking at weeks of debate in the Republican-led Senate on it.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add $3.8 trillion to the $36.2 trillion in U.S. debt over the next decade.
"The dollar's up a touch today, but market nerves are pretty clearly quite frayed and all movements over the last few sessions have been very cautious," said Helen Given, director of trading at Monex USA in Washington.
"The House's passage of the Trump administration's tax and spending bill is giving the buck a bit of a boost, but most of the flow we're looking at is more a reversal of substantial dollar shorts than anything else."
In late morning trading, the dollar edged up 0.1% to 143.75 yen after earlier dropping to 142.80, its weakest level since May 7.
Sterling was up 0.1% at $1.3434 but remained close to a three-year peak reached on Wednesday after hot inflation dampened expectations for rate cuts from the Bank of England.
The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six peers, rose 0.2% to 99.844, a little above yesterday's two-week low of 99.333.
Source: Reuters
